1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to software development systems and methods, and particularly relates to a method and system for rapidly developing and deploying sensor-enabled software applications.
2. Background
IDEs (integrated development environments), such as the VISUAL STUDIO development environment offered by MICROSOFT, greatly facilitate the development of complex software applications. However, whether or not an IDE is used, developing sensor-enabled software applications represents a significant programming challenge.
For example, a given software application may be required to collect and process sensor data from a variety of local and/or remote sensors. Generally, at least for each type of sensor involved, and for each type of connection (local or remote, file or database, etc.), the programmer must add dedicated program code. Further, given the possible interrelationships represented by the data being collected from different types of sensors and/or from sensors in different locations, and given the often asynchronous nature of sensor data events, coordinating the collection, processing and interlinking of such data is challenging to say the least.